It is a good week to be Charles Edelstenne. The 76-year-old chairman of French software company Dassault Systèmes was yesterday named the eventual successor to the Dassault Group's current head Serge Dassault. And, thanks to his 6.1% stake in the company, Edelstenne is also a new billionaire.

Dassault Group got its start in 1929 with
Dassault Aviation, a French aircraft manufacturer founded by Marcel Dassault. A registered charter accountant, Edelstenne joined Dassault Aviation as CFO in 1960 and has since served various roles throughout the conglomerate, remaining chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation until 2013.

"Charles Edelstenne was one of the founders of Dassault Systèmes in 1981 and since then has been committed to the company's strategic growth," a spokesperson for the group's design and software branch Dassault Systèmes (DS) said in an emailed statement. Edelstenne became chairman and CEO of DS in 1993, handing over the chief executive role in 2002 to concentrate on the wider Dassault Group. Today, Dassault Systèmes creates simulation software to help architects and doctors, including a program that models beating hearts in 3-D. The company would not comment on Edelstenne's net worth. (Read my colleague Joann Muller's Forbes magazine story on its heart imaging technology here.)

Charles Edelstenne has been named successor to Serge Dassault (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Edelstenne owns 7.7 million shares in Dassault Systèmes, according to the company's 2013 annual report. His stake in the business, combined with hefty dividends and annual compensation checks that regularly near a million euros, puts his net worth at $1 billion.

Serge Dassault, 89, currently runs the Dassault Group which has expanded to include private jets Dassault Falcon and aerospace equipment producer S.A.B.C.A. products, as well as media interests through Figaro Group.

The group also owns a winery named Chateau Dasssault, as well as the third-largest auction house in France behind Christie's and Sotheby's, called Artcurial. Dassault previously served as the mayor of Corbeil-Essones, a city south of Paris, and has been embroiled in a scandal over alleged vote-buying for three mayoral campaigns, including his and a successor's. In 2009 he was removed from office after he was found giving cash gifts to voters. He has maintained his innocence.

The succession of France's multi-billion dollar Dassault conglomerate has been much-speculated upon in recent years, with Serge Dassault publicly musing whether any of his children were "competent" enough. In 2011, he suggested that his eldest son, Olivier, was a "far more appropriate" leadership choice than his other two sons and daughter, the FT reported.

In a statement, the Dassault Group said Olivier Dassault will remain head of the Dassault Group's supervisory committee.